Encapsulated components can be damaged and rendered non-operational by mechanical action and environmental influences. Environmental influences include for example corrosive gases such as oxygen, liquids such as water, organic and inorganic acids or electromagnetic fields. The pollutants exercise their harmful effects in particular under the influence of higher temperatures by destroying packaging materials, such as molding compounds, epoxy resins or polyimides, or the components themselves. The higher temperature assists the diffusion process of the pollutants through the packaging material or along boundary layers of the packaging material. If the component is not protected by a metal housing, electromagnetic fields can penetrate unimpeded to the component and damage it. Typical packages comprise plastic seals but these do not protect the component hermetically from environmental influences.
Hermetically sealing packages for protecting from environmental influences comprise in particular metal or ceramic housings. Known hermetically sealing housings have a housing base and a cover or hood. The housing is hermetically sealed by welding or soldering the cover onto the housing base. The housing base and cover can take up large parts of the surface of a printed circuit board or a module, on which the component is mounted.